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playing some relaxing music to put on as they
work. At first they may find it strange but they
will get used to it. With sleepy teenagers, try
putting some of their favorite tunes on as they
work. It may help to increase their energy lev-
els.
Time limit is the third way. Instead of
telling students they have two minutes to fin-
ish a task, or with very young learners a min-
ute to tidy the room up after a craft activity,
tell them they have until the end of the song.
Play the music and when the song ends stu-
dents should be paying attention ready to lis-
ten to the instructions to change tasks.
Feelings can be the fourth way. Differ-
ent types of music will provoke very different
reactions within your students. You can ex-
plore this by playing a selection of different
types of music for a minute or so each and
asking students to write some adjectives of
how they feel when listening to the different
types.
The last way is musical drawings. Give
each student a piece of paper and some col-
ored pencils. Tell them that you are going to
play some music and you want them to draw
whatever comes into their heads. As music is
playing, all students should be drawing. After
20 or 30 seconds, stop the music. Students
stop drawing and pass their picture to the per-
son to the left of them in the circle. Play the
music again and they continue with the draw-
ing the person next to them had started. Stop
the music again, pass pictures on and this con-
tinues until the end of the song. When you
have finished each student will have a picture
that several students contributed to. Then it’s
up to you what to do with the pictures. They
can be used to describe to the group, to write a
story about, or to pretend they were a dream
the student had last night. The rest of the class
can try to analyze the meaning of the dream.
Use different types of music to get dif-
ferent types of pictures. I’ve found that reggae
and classic produce happy beach scenes and
dance music gets futuristic city scenes. Be-
ware – with teenagers this activity can be quite
an eye-opener as it tends to reveal what is go-
ing on in their minds!
Songs provide a valuable source of au-
thentic language and there are hundreds of
ways to exploit them in the classroom. The
internet has made it very easy to find the lyrics
of songs. A search on Google with the name
of the band, the song title and the word ‘lyrics’
will bring up a selection of sites you can use.
Once you have copied and pasted the lyrics
into a word document it is quick and easy to
make an effective worksheet. Here a selection
of ideas for you to try.
Start with a focusing activity: anything
that will get students thinking about the sub-
ject of the song. Have them think about the
title of the song, in groups of pairs. Find a pic-
ture that relates to the subject of the song and
have students make guesses about it.
Highlight it is another tool for teaching
language through music. Put a selection of
important words from the song on your board.
Have students ask each other what the words
mean. Then, have students in groups write or
tell a quick story that uses the words. You can
also get students to circle, underline or high-
light specific words or word categories.
This way of teaching is called Stop it.
Again, write a selection of words on the board.
Students must shout STOP any time they hear
one of the new words. You could also stop the
song before a word you want them to guess.
Have students lip sync the song before a
team of judges in a Class Idol show. This al-
lows them to become familiar with the words,
rhythm, stress and intonation before actually
singing the words out loud.
Cut the song into strips. Give each stu-
dent one strip to memorize. Students put the
strips in their pockets. They get up and tell
each other their part of the song, without look-
ing at their part or showing their part to any-
one else. Students then organize themselves in
the right order, speak the song and then listen
and check. You can also have students put the
strips on a table in order.
Question it is very good tool. Have stu-
dents ask each other questions about the song
(about the words, about the topics or about
characters in the song). For more advanced
students you could choose two songs of a
similar theme, and split the class into two
teams. Have each group listen to their song
and draw up a list of (open or True/ False)
questions. Pair each student with a member of
the opposite team and have them take turns
asking their questions.
Classic gap – fill is another exercise.
Every language student at some point has been
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given a song to listen to and the lyrics with
gaps in for them to fill in as they listen. This
activity is not as simple as it sounds and be-
fore making one yourself think about why
you’re taking out certain words. It may be bet-
ter to take out all the words in one group, such
as prepositions or verbs, and tell students what
they should be listening out for. Another op-
tion is to take out rhyming words. Don’t be
tempted to take out too many words, eight or
ten is normally enough. To make the task eas-
ier you could provide the missing words in a
box at the side for the students to select, or
you could number the gaps and provide clues
for each number.
It is a good way to use Spotting the mis-
takes. Change some of the words in the lyrics
and as students listen they have to spot and
correct the mistakes. As with the gap-fill limit
the mistakes to a maximum of eight or ten and
if possible choose a word set. You could make
all the adjectives opposites for example. An-
other example of this for higher levels is to
show the students the real lyrics and you cor-
rect the English and make it proper! E.g.
‘gonna’ change to ‘going to’ ‘we was’ change
to ‘we were’ etc. This is a good way to focus
on song language.
The next idea can be Comic stripping.
Songs that tell stories are great for students to
make comic strips out of. You have to choose
your song carefully and spend time looking at
the lyrics with the students and making sure
they have understood the main ideas. Lower
levels may need guidance as to how to divide
up the song into suitable chucks that can be
represented pictorially.
Ordering the verses is another way of
using in the classroom. With low levels this is
a very simple activity. Chop up the lyrics of
the song by verse and give a small group of
students the jumbled verses. As they listen
they put them in order.
In the class you can use also Discus-
sions. Certain songs lend themselves to dis-
cussions and you can use the song as a nice
lead in to the topic and a way to pre-teach
some of the vocabulary. They can start discus-
sions on a topic or even become the centre of
debate. This is especially true of songs that
develop a particular theme.
Translating is very useful tool. Al-
though some teachers oppose all use of the
mother tongue in the language classroom,
some students really enjoy translating lyrics
into their own language. If you do ask students
to do this ensure the lyrics are worth translat-
ing!
Writing the next verses is also a good
tool which we used. Higher levels can write a
new verse to add to a song. Focus on the pat-
terns and rhyme of the song as a group and
then let students be creative. If they are suc-
cessful, the new verses can be sung over the
top of the original!
Have students write a letter to the main
character or the singer, send an answer to a
person referred to in the song, rewrite the song
as a story, write a story which began before
the story in the song and led to it, or write a
story which will continue after the song.
Change words (adjectives, adverbs,
nouns - names, places or feelings), and invent
new lyrics for the melody. If you have karaoke
versions of the songs you can then let students
sing their own versions.
We hope that at least some of these
ideas will be good for your classes. The more
you use music in the classroom the more uses
you will find for it. English songs can be used
for a wide variety of ESL learning and teach-
ing activities.
Seven reasons why we use songs in the
classroom.
1. They are authentic materials.
2. You can teach culture and history
3. Songs contain repetitions and repeti-
tions enhance learning
4. Good way to teach vocabulary
5. Good way to teach grammar
6. Good way to teach pronunciation and
listening
7. They are fun and they can easily en-
ergize the unmotivated
Why are songs so suitable?
We can’t generalize, but research has
found that pop songs have characteristics that
help learning a second language: they often
contain common, short words; the language is
conversational, time and place are usually im-
precise; the lyrics are often sung at a slower
rate than spoken words and there is repetition
of words and grammar (Murhpy, 1992). Fur-
thermore, songs are also known to lower the
“affective filter” or, in other words, to moti-
vate learners to learn. So, what positive con-
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tributions to language learning can songs
make?
Socio-emotional growth
You’ll often find learners of any age
singing together socially – when they are visit-
ing friends, at a party or in karaoke bars.
Teenagers and young adults seem to know an
endless number of songs by heart and share
them continuously through the Internet and
portable music players. Even though it’s not
always easy to copy this spontaneous love of
music in the classroom, singing songs in and
with a class is a social act which allows learn-
ers to participate in a group and express their
feelings, no matter what their English is like.
Physical development
Songs provide a great opportunity for
young learners to move around. Clapping,
dancing and playing instruments stimulate
memory, which makes it possible for learners
to hear chunks of language as they sing and
use them in different situations later. Older
learners can also benefit from clapping, danc-
ing, rocking, tapping, and snapping their fin-
gers to music and songs.
Cognitive training
We all know the phenomenon of the
song-that-is-stuck-in-my-head. With the right
kind of song it is easy to simulate that in the
classroom. Interacting with songs again and
again is as important to language learners as
repeatedly practicing a tennis technique is for
a tennis player. The skill which develops from
this is called ‘automaticity’. Learners get to
know what to say and to produce language
rapidly without pausing.
Cultural literacy
Now that most music is accessible to
almost anyone anywhere, either through radio,
CDs, DVDs and downloads from the Internet,
learners can enjoy songs from all corners of
the globe. Songs used in English classes can,
in that way, shed light on interesting musical
traditions in countries, but can also teach
teens, young adults and adults to appreciate
other cultures. For adult learners they can be
“a rich mine of information about human rela-
tions, ethics, customs, history, humor, and re-
gional and cultural differences’ (Lems, 2001).
Language learning
In a world where non-native speakers of
English are likely to produce the majority of
songs in English, learners have the opportunity
to listen to pronunciation in a wide range of
varieties of the language. Songs will help
learners become familiar with word stress and
intonation, and the rhythm with which words
are spoken or sung also helps memorization.
Again, this will enable learners to remember
chunks of language which they can then use in
conversations or in writing. As language
teachers, we can use songs to practice listen-
ing, speaking, reading and writing.
Instead of doing your usual listening
comprehension out of the course books, do a
song instead. Get your students thinking about
the subject and do any pre-teaching of vocabu-
lary as necessary. As with standard listening
comprehension, there are a variety of exercises
that you can do with songs: true or false,
matching exercises, open comprehension
questions, etc.
You can use a song with a clear rhyme
pattern to do some phonetics work on particu-
lar phonemes.
Some songs lend themselves well to vo-
cabulary work. When possible, I have noted
on the menu pages when vocabulary exercises
are possible.
We like to have students listen first
without the lyrics. We ask them to write down
all words and phrases that they hear and share
them with the class. Then we listen again with
the lyrics and go over vocabulary. It is inter-
esting to provide lyrics with several small mis-
takes and have students see if they can hear
where they are.
It's great to use songs in the class, if
only to do something a little different. But be-
yond using them solely to give your students
some 'light relief', there are many other ways
songs can be used in ESL classrooms to con-
solidate what students have already learnt.
REFERENCES
1. Lems, Kirsten, Using Music in the Adult
ESL Classroom, ERIC Digest, 2001.
2. Medina, Suzanne L, The Effect of Music on
Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition,
‘National Network for Early Language
Learning’, Vol 6-3, 1993.
3. Murphy, T (1992), The discourse op pop
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songs, TESOL Quarterly 26”(4), 770-774.
4. http://www.freeplaymusic.com/
5. http://www.ohhla.com
6. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/
7.
http://ddeubel.edublogs.org/
УДК 811.111
THE MOST COMMONLY USED METHODS OF EFL TEACHING
Samoilova-Tsyplakova I.M.
Over the short history of the ESL/ EFL
field various methods have been proposed.
Each method has in turn fallen out of favor
and has been replaced with a new one. Since
no method has been proven to be more effec-
tive than another, many teachers have jumped
on the "eclectic" bandwagon, that is why to
say, following the fashion and choosing the
newest popular one. Trying to find out the
most effective one I will firstly give a descrip-
tion of the most popular methods and ap-
proaches for the last century.
Classical Method is considered to be
one of the oldest methods and approaches in
English language teaching. It is also known as
the Grammar Translation Method (GMT) be-
cause it teaches grammar as a means to trans-
late text from one language to the other.
Grammar Translation classes are taught in the
students’ native language, and they require
students to memorize long lists of vocabulary
and grammar rules, and to translate classical
texts and other arbitrary sentences. This
method is used to teach dead languages like
Latin.
The skills practiced were only reading
and writing. It is general knowledge that it is
necessary to practice all four skills (reading,
writing, listening and speaking) in order to
have students who take active part in the proc-
ess of communication.
The Direct Method, developed by
Maximilian Berlitz around the 1880s, is based
on the premise that a second language should
be learned more like the first language. It uses
a slow build-up of skills paired with a lot of
vocabulary repetition in context to help stu-
dents learn to communicate from the begin-
ning.
The Direct Method uses only the target
language for instruction and builds up every-
day vocabulary and sentences quickly without
teaching grammar explicitly. The teacher
teaches vocabulary through pictures, objects
and elaborate pantomime. The students figure
out the grammar as they go, partially through
imitation and partially by trial and error.
With the outbreak of World War II, the
U.S. found itself all over the map, no longer
linguistically isolated as it had previously
been. The need arose for military personnel to
be able to communicate with both their allies
and their enemies. Then, structural linguists,
teaching methodologists and behavioristic
psychologists collaborated for the first time to
produce the Army Specialized Training Pro-
gram (ASTP), also known as the Army
Method and later on, the Audiolingual Method
(ALM).
The ALM teaches grammatical structure
patterns and vocabulary through the repetition
and memorization of set phrases or dialogues.
Once students have mastered a dialogue, the
teacher introduces new vocabulary, which the
students will then substitute for another word
in the dialogue.
Following the relative success of the
ALM, researchers began to look more deeply
into the structure of language itself and into
the psychological factors that go along with
language learning success and failure. The
teaching methods that developed out of this
research hinged largely on making the stu-
dents feel less anxious about the whole ordeal
of learning a new language. Gone were the
days of drilling. Language classes of the ‘70s
were all about comfort.
So, one of them was Total Physical Re-
sponse (TPR). It involves the teacher giving
more and more complex orders to the students,
who then respond with an action. The students
then get to order each other and the teacher
around for speaking practice.
The Total Physical Response method is
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based on James J. Asher’s idea that the more
active learning is, the more effective it be-
comes. Asher saw successful adult second
language learning as a parallel process to child
first language acquisition.
Another method of this branch is Sug-
gestopedia which is a pretty run-of-the-mill
language class, only the majority of the activi-
ties take place with Baroque music playing in
the background. The idea is that the music will
relax the mind so that it can retain more mate-
rial.
Community Language Learning is sort
of like group therapy. Everyone sits in a circle
to have a conversation, and the "counselor"
(teacher) assists the "clients" (students) by
"mediating." In the beginning, this means that
the teacher translates whatever the students
wish to say, and then the students repeat their
message in the target language. Gradually, the
students need the teacher less and less for me-
diation and can converse fluently on their
own.
The Silent Way is a method in which
the teacher is very hands-off, providing only
props, charts and minimal spoken information
and then backing off to allow the students to
work together to solve language problems.
Task-based language teaching (TBL)
was developed by Dave and Jane Willis and
“it is based on the use of tasks as the core unit
of planning and instruction in language teach-
ing” (7). Willis presents it as a logical devel-
opment of Communicative language teaching
as it draws of some of its principles: activities
that involve real communication are essential
for language learning, activities in which lan-
guage is used for carrying out meaningful
tasks promote learning, language that is mean-
ingful to the learner supports the learning
process (7). In TBL learning is promoted by
giving students tasks to complete while using
the target language (4).“Tasks are believed to
foster processes of negotiation, modification,
rephrasing, and experimentation that are at the
heart of second language learning” (7). Ac-
cording to Hanušová the typology of the TBL
can be the following:
1) ordering;
2) sorting/ classifying;
3) listing;
4) comparing/ matching;
5) problem solving;
6) creative tasks/ projects;
7) sharing personal experience/ anec-
dote telling
There are a lot of origins of Communi-
cative approach (CA). It could be said that it is
the product of educators and linguists who had
not been satisfied with the ALM and the GMT
(6). Lindsay and Knight said that these meth-
ods put little, if any, emphasis on the ability to
communicate or interact. Communicative lan-
guage teaching was also influenced by devel-
opments in the way the language was de-
scribed - taking into account the communica-
tive function of language. If we want to char-
acterize the pedagogy of the last fifteen to
twenty years in one word it would definitely
be “communicative”. Widow son said that it is
of course the CA which is in current fashion in
methodology. He continued his description of
the CA as following: … it concentrates on get-
ting learners to do things with language, to
express concepts and to carry out communica-
tive acts of various kinds. The content of a
language course is now defined not in terms of
forms, words and sentence patterns, but in
terms of concepts, or notions, which such
forms are used to express, and the communi-
cative functions which they are used to per-
form (9).
One more approach that needs to be
mentioned is Multiple Intelligences. As a
teacher I have experienced that students have
different strengths. In other words, they have
different cognitive styles, and the result of the
learning process fully depends on the teacher’s
choice of the approach.
Related work by psychologist Howard
Gardner (1983) on multiple intelligences has
been influential in language teaching circles.
Teachers who recognize the multiple intelli-
gences of their students acknowledge that stu-
dents bring with them specific and unique
strengths, which are often not taken into ac-
count in classroom situations. Gardner has
theorized that individuals have at least seven
distinct intelligences that can be developed
over a lifetime (1). The seven are:
Logical / mathematical - the ability to
use numbers effectively, to see abstract pat-
terns, and to reason well
Visual / spatial - the ability to orient
oneself in the environment, to create mental
images, and a sensitivity to shape, size, color
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